Video: Charles F. Gardner sizes up the trade for J.J. Redick

The Bucks acquired J.J. Redick from the Magic along with two other players for Beno Udrih, Doron Lamb and Tobias Harris. CineSport's Brian Clark and the Journal Sentinel's Charles Gardner discuss. »Read Full Blog Post

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basically we did pass on smith. They wanted draft pick and Ellis and Beno, we offered Mbah a moutes, Beno and Udoh. Rather then 2 expiring contracts and a draft pick they would ahve got 2 contracts through atleast next season and an expiring with no help for this year. Love the trade, love that Hammond is sticking to the plan of rebuilding through the draft and young players so he wouldn't give up sanders, Jennings and Henson, however I think we all can agree if Smith was willing to resign with us next year the starting lineup of Jennings, Reddick, Smith, Henson and Sanders would have been pretty ****ing good. Thats a pretty big gamble though to assume we could resign Smith, Reddick or Ellis, pay Jennings and expect to pay sanders after next season.

Redick, Dunleavy, Ilyasova, Jennings--can we please make some shots now?

I had this team falling several games out of the playoffs before this trade, and that was with some pretty weak teams behind us. I predict Redick opens things up enough through the upcoming grueling schedule to get us in--but that would only win us a first round thrashing from the Heat.

Oh well, anything that gets Ellis off the court from time to time. Just get him off the court, please. Every shot Redick takes is a shot Ellis isn't taking, so this offers hope.

I'm also pleasantly surprised to see Dalembert still with the team. Hopefully we'll play him a good 20 minutes per game, as he has really come on. The Sanders/Dalembert rotation might be the best center rotation in basketball right now (certainly top 5), so adding an outside shooter seems ideal.

"As a point guard, Udrih had the highest assist percentage on his Bucks team, according to Basketball-Reference.com. Though that may not be saying much when compared to shot-happy guards like Brandon Jennings or Monta Ellis, it's something the Magic will soon lean upon."

"Harris is at the forefront of Orlando's attempts to rebuild. A 6'6, 225 pound wing and the cousin of Phoenix Suns forward Channing Frye, the 20-year-old has room to grow. He averaged five points on 46.7 percent shooting last season and is about on the same track this year.

He will likely compete in development with 19-year-old rookie Moe Harkless, who has similar stats as Harris but is a less efficient scorer.

The key for Harris will be finding playing time and working to develop a consistent way of scoring. Though that's his strongsuit, he doesn't have a consistent jump shot or offensive attack, and he's only a so-so athlete. With the Magic, he will presumably have much more playing time than he did on the playoff-seeking Bucks, as suspended Hedo Turkoglu only thins out the depth at the forward positions."

That pretty much sums up why Harris didn't earn many minutes with the Bucks, doesn't it? There are way too many Bucks fans that believe Harris only needed a chance to play and he would have been the answer.

Blaming the coaches for not giving players 'a chance' is stale bread. They get chances at practice everyday. Slow, only a "so-so athlete", and a "non-consistent jump shot or offensive attack" analysis came from the folks who traded for him. They understand what their getting in Harris.

Trade I thought I saw coming was Ellis to Utah for Millsap, with some combination of contracts exchanged, perhaps Udrih on the Bucks' side and Marvin Williams on Utah's. Would have helped both teams, I think. But I like the JJ pickup. I think he's become a better off-ball player than he was in his Duke days, although there's still the same problem of the Bucks not being able to match up defensively when they go small.

It's understandable to be disappointed in not getting Josh Smith, but Atlanta was asking for too much(Epke, Luc and a 1st rounder), so I'm cool with the deal not being done. As for Reddick, we didn't give up anything:Lamb can't shoot, Beno's contract is expiring, Tobias is God-awful. We get the best player in the trade, he can score when we go in our Badger-like droughts, make free throws when it is needed, so it was a good move for Milwaukee..

Please correct me. The way I see "chance, Milwaukee Bucks style:- First rounder - Get drafted somewhere between 8 and 20;- Second rounder - numbers don't matter;- Play summer league for a couple of summers;- Practice. What practice? We are talking practice here, practice;- Sit and watch, while the mediocre starters do their mediocre stuff;- If called to play (due to an injury to another player), better produce instantly (think Vinnie "Microwave" Johnson);- No Lebron numbers? Too bad, back to the bench to rot some more;- Go home and play the interview over and over again: "He will get all the chances we can give him." "We will be patient with him."- Pack your bags before your second season begins. Chances are you are will go bye-bye, never receiving a chance.

" ... sources said the Bucks' offer for Smith wasn't much different from the offer that landed them Redick from Orlando. Milwaukee was willing to sweeten the deal with Ekpe Udoh and a first-round pick, but none of the Bucks' key players was included, according to a person briefed on the talks ..." CBSSports.com

Hammond apparently is more interested in the present than the future. Getting established, good players should be the plan.

Aren't we tired of losing? Maybe management will up the ante in the off season and the Bucks can go from that 8th/9th/10th seed to a viable contender. If that's the plan, lets stick to it. Let's not take a step back.

"Lowe (2:42 p.m.): It looks like Milwaukee or nowhere. I have to admit, Milwaukee's emergence here caught me off guard.

Simmons (2:44 p.m.): And you've always been overprotective of Milwaukee because of your unabashed love for LARRY SANDERS! Serious question — if SANDERS! got engaged to Swin Cash and they didn't invite you to the wedding, would you try to crash it anyway and risk a trespassing fine and possible jail time?

Lowe (2:45 p.m.): That would be difficult for me. I think Swin already has a restraining order after All-Star weekend.

Simmons (2:46 p.m.): If Milwaukee can land Josh Smith without giving up Jennings or SANDERS!, that would be pretty intriguing. I might not be the biggest Josh Smith fan on the planet (he's one of those guys who scares you when he's on the other team but scares you even more when he's on your own team), but I'm still one of the few who agrees with Smith that he's a max player. I had him as a second-team All-NBA forward last year. He stumbled a little this season, mainly because they didn't take care of him and he's a mild headache (and you have to take care of mild headaches before they become pounding migraines)...................

Lowe (2:57 p.m.): Two Josh quibbles, though …

1. I'm surprised the Bucks were so interested in this move with both SANDERS! and Ersan Ilyasova onboard. I heard from multiple people they sniffed around a Thad Young/Monta Ellis swap, but might have gotten cold feet — presumably because of positional overcrowding issues................

Simmons (3 p.m.): Things are heating up! We're on a run of third-string point guards getting dealt — look out, Willie Green, you might be next. Uh-oh, I just checked my Twitter feed and about 20 NBA guys reported at the same time that (a) the Bucks were out of the Josh Smith Sweepstakes, and (b) J.J. Redick was probably headed to Milwaukee. But for what??? My best guess —

My best guess — Monta Ellis and a conditional pick to Orlando, Redick and Josh McRoberts's Expiring Contract to Milwaukee. I'm just worried that two white guys might not go over well in Milwaukee................

Simmons (3:27 p.m.): Let's talk about the trades that did happen. What did you think of the Redick deal? I liked it for Milwaukee obviously. But I like all deals for Team X when Team X gets J.J. Redick. I'm a Redickite. Redickphile? Redickan?

Lowe (3:28 p.m.): Milwaukee paid a price for what might end up being a short-term rental, though one that will help them clinch a playoff berth they are 100 percent committed to cinching. They gave up Doron Lamb and Tobias Harris, along with Beno Udrih's expiring deal. Harris's departure is a particularly sad marker. The Bucks need a two-way wing player going forward, and there was great optimism around the league — both within the Bucks and elsewhere — that Harris, a bruiser with limited range and unproven defensive ability, might be that player. Guess not — or at least not in Milwaukee. Lamb is interesting, but he's shooting 35 percent in limited minutes. The Bucks get back Ish Smith, a deep reserve, and Gustavo Ayon, whom the Magic and Hornets both liked before dealing him. Ayon is a useful player who may struggle to get minutes in Milwaukee's crowded frontcourt. He's a smart passer and cutter on offense, and he's a decent defender.

Simmons (3:32 p.m.): Translation: This Redick trade was for NBA nerds only, a.k.a. the people who watch four games at once on a Monday night and know who any of these guys are. And for the record, I am a HUGE Gustavo Ayon fan. I may or may not have been involved in an "I think Orlando has been misusing Gustavo Ayon" conversation within the last few weeks. So I don't love this trade for Orlando because I like the two guys they gave up. Redick is a proven playoff guy. And a good teammate. The Bucks are better, I think.

Lowe (3:36 p.m.): Redick is obviously the highlight of the deal. He's a very, very good player, and Orlando is now officially in full Tank Mode. He'll have to play some small forward, but anytime he takes from Ellis is a plus for Milwaukee. Milwaukee's offense features a lot of fast-paced cutting for pick-and-rolls around the elbows, and Redick has been thriving in that kind of action for years in Orlando.

And he can shoot. Milwaukee needs that, badly. The Bucks are shooting 34.8 percent from deep, 21st in the league, and Ellis is shooting 22.8 percent on a totally irresponsible 3.5 attempts per game. That is borderline sabotage. Here is the total list of players in league history to attempt more than three 3-pointers per game in a season while hitting fewer than 25 percent of them.

Simmons (3:39 p.m.): There's a good chance that he decided to spend the season trolling the advanced-metrics community with his shot selection. Don't rule this out. Maybe he's trying to drive Kirk Goldsberry to hardcore drug use.

Lowe (3:40 p.m.): It may be that Ellis, as good as he can look on majestic highlight layups, is just a poisonous player. He does some things well — driving, slashing, and finding teammates for productive looks at the rim. But he does more Bad Monta things — taking long jumpers, basically — than Good Monta things on offense, and on defense, there is only Bad Monta. He gambles for steals, stands upright so that even "blah" opponents can blow by him off the dribble, he's undersized, and he's an inattentive help defender.

Basically: I'm beginning to believe a team would be better off just not playing Monta, unless he's going to shoot 50-plus percent, which last happened in 2007-08. Shifting some of his minutes to Redick will help by itself, and Jim Boylan should be able to fit Redick in the small forward rotation, alongside Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (all defense, no spacing) and Mike Dunleavy Jr. (all spacing/passing, no defense).

That Lowe (3:40) piece is pretty much spot on with those visiting this message board. It would seem those high minute games from Ellis will be a thing of the past. Maybe those reduced minutes will get more of the 'good Monta' and less of the 'bad Monta'.